My Missionary

Hola!! We're Back!

Well not really...we're still in the promised land of Idaho but we're back in the worlod of blogging. You can all breathe a sigh of relief.

I have been in Idaho since December 11 and have been loving it! We've had loads of fun with all of the Christmas festivities (can someone say attending a sibling's concert every night) but most importantly I was here for my missionary.



My little brother Jeff left for the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on December 16th. He will be levaing for the Auckland, New Zealand mission on January 11th. I have set up a blog that will contain all of his letters, pictures, and updates. You can check it out at http://elderjchandler.blogspot.com.

Side note: In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of which we are members of, all worhty 19 year old males have the choice whether or not to serve a 24month mission and share what we believe to be the true and full gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jeff has been one of my best friends and is my brother right underneath me (I'm the oldest of 8). We have become really close for the past few years and were able to go to high school for a year together. I love Jeffy so much, and we always have fun whether it is jamming out to MJ or talking about girl problems. Jeff brings such a light and joy wherever he is. He truly will be a wonderful missionary and I am so excited for him! Tuesday afternoon Jeff was set apart as a missionary. It was amazing how the Lord knew just what Jeff needed to hear and also to see the mantle of missionary come upon my little brother. He truly has the spirit and excitement of the missionary spirit and was so ready to go and serve!

The night before we dropped Jeff off we spent some quality family time and walked around temple square in Salt Lake City and then had a delicious dinner at the Mayan. It was my little sister's birthday that day, so they brought her a giant brownie with a real firework inside! My other little sister's loved the 'Mayan natives' and watching them jump and do flips off the cave walls into the water.






We spent Tuesday night in a hotel in Provo. While we were hanging out, SANTA called our hotel room!! He had heard Jeff was leaving before Christmas, so he was going to bring Christmas to our hotel room! My sisters who are 6 and 8 were so excited and we barely had time to have one last family prayer before they made us all go to bed so Santa would come. The next morning, sure enough there were presents and stockings!!



On Wednesday we dropped Jeff off at the MTC. They have changed the drop-off process to a curb-side drop off versus all the family members and missionaries piling inside for a devotional. At first we were disappointed, but the curb-side was actually really neat. Wednesday morning we pulled into the Provo Temple parking lot and all piled out to take our final pictures outside the MTC and say our final goodbyes.



After all of the tears (from everyone except Jeff) and hugs, we had about ten minutes to spare before the official drop-off time. He looked at us, and with excitement in his voice and eyes said "It's time. I'm ready. Let's go!"

We all piled into our huge 15 passenger van and started our final car ride as a full family into the MTC. While we were driving, someone started singing the hymn "Called to Serve". We all piped in, and before you know it we were all singing at the top of our lungs pulling into the MTC to drop off our missionary who has been called to serve the Lord. It was such a funny and yet spirital family moment! :)

As we pulled in there were probably about 100-150 missionaries waiting on the curb. After we parked on the side, about 12 of them helped us out of the car, got Elder Chandler's luggage, and welcomed Elder Chandler into the MTC. It was so cool to see the missionary army waiting there. They were all so excited and happy to be there, and it really pumped Jeff up and got him excited to start his missionary service. They were also very sweet with the family and let us give one last hug - one of them even took my mom's hand and said "it's ok mom, we'll take good care of him".



After our final final goodbyes, our little Jeffy walked up the sidewalk to become a full-time Ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. We drove away, all still sniffling because of our tears, until my six-year old sister said (before we were out of the MTC parking lot) "Augh. How long do I have to put up with all of this crying?"

It was such a wonderful day full of lots of emotions...happiness and excitement, fears and sadness...but we know that he is in the right place and that the Lord will protect and watch over our Elder. We are so excited for him to be a Missionary!!